Teaware

I ordered myself one of these after using my mother’s a couple times and really enjoying it. Annoyingly, even though I ordered a design with birds and magnolias, the cup I received was plain white. I wrote to Amazon to complain, and they did nothing, then wrote to Tea Forte and they sent me a replacement and said to keep the first cup. So, these are my current favorites to use, and I really enjoy having two to switch around and use during the day without having to constantly wash.

The cups keep tea nice and hot while it steeps, and the lids also help a lot. The strainer is fairly effective, and better than many I’ve tried at keeping small particles out of the liquor.

Got this when Teavana had 25% off sale so cost less than $200.00! Love Love Love it!! I have used it everyday, several times a day since getting it. My husband calls it the magic machine. It does everything a tea maker should-you can’t mess up a pot of tea. It’s small enough on the counter, looks great and does what it says and more!!!

No notes yet.

Hated it… bought it and was so excited to try it, unfortunately it took me forever to take a sip without burning my tongue. Additionally the tea steeped for a really long time as I could not drink it at the right steep time. I replaced this with the Aladdin Travel mug and I am much happier with it. At least with the Aladdin you can lift the basket once the tea has reached the correct steep time.

Absolutely the best for preparing loose leaf teas! I’d be lost without mine. I have the 16oz version and it’s perfect for myself or when I have a friend over that wants to try a few different teas.

I just got this set of 4 on sale, for $4.75. Totally worth it. The cups are super cute, and are perfect for my 200ml tea pot. It’s also surprisingly easy to sip from the rounded edge. I tend to spill a lot (so clumsy!) but I haven’t had any problems with these so far.

I love this magical creation! Great for resteeping. And really just kinda fun to use :)

No notes yet.

I used a gift card I received as a prize from work to purchase this, because I wanted something easy to use at my desk to brew loose tea, and tea balls/tea eggs just do not cut it for brewing a decent cuppa (not to mention, they are a pain to clean, especially at work). After I left that job, this item was relegated to the back of my cabinet at home. I’ve once again gotten into tea and have been brewing quite a few single mugs worth over the course of a day. This gadget is perfect for that task.

How I use it: 2 Teaspoons (I happen to have a measuring spoon that is 2tsp) and boiling water (I drink mostly black teas or fruit tisanes), set a timer, and when the timer goes off, place this over my prepared mug of choice.

I found that if I do not fill the Teamaker up all the way with water, but just over 3/4 full, I do not end up with excess liquid leftover in the Teamaker after straining into a mug, nor do I have a tea spill from overfilling a cup.

I’ve misplaced the little plastic “coaster” thing that came with the Teamaker, but I usually do not experience any little drips or leaking, even after straining the tea into a cup and setting the Teamaker back on the counter.

Clean up is a snap with this strainer, unlike tea balls, tea eggs, or infuser baskets. Rinse with warm water and pour the spent leaves out into the sink, and place – lid open – on a towel to air dry. I probably should be washing this with dish soap or at least washing the filter mesh after each tea, but as far as I can tell I have not had any flavor crossover from brewing two different teas nearly back to back.

The one and only drawback I have found is that the plastic does not hold heat well, nor is it easy or effective to “warm the pot” first. But, for tasting a new tea without brewing an entire pot, allowing the leaves plenty of room to circulate and unfurl, and easy as pie brewing and clean up, this gadget can not be beat! I’m also looking forward to picking up the Ingenuitea from Adagio, a similar product, to compare (and have one at home and at work).

Oh I love this tea maker! The only draw back is that you have to make a minimum of two cups (but I drink more than 8 oz at a time anyways). You can customize your brew temp and brew time and push the “tea” button let it do all the work. The tea comes out hot and delicious! It is a bit pricey (I got it as a Christmas gift) but well worth getting if you can! If I had three thumbs (I’d be a bit freaky) I would give it three thumbs up!

Someone got this for me as a wedding present. I didn’t use it until my DavidsTea Steeper needed some serious cleaning and is MIA.

I’m gonna compare the ingenuiTEA to the Steeper

ingenuiTEA
narrower design – not for wide mugs compared to the Steeper, so you’ll have to reach under and press the drain trigger and hope to not get splashed with hot tea.
The narrow design makes it impossible to reach into the pot, if you are they type like me that likes to fish out fruit bits to sample.

Holds less than the Steeper. This puppy does 16oz as per website. It doesn’t actually make 16oz of tea, more like max output of 14 or 15ish of steeped tea. Empty, poured to the brim it’s 16oz, but if there is say 2 or 3t of tea in it, it takes up volume plus you don’t really want to fill it to the brim and risk a mess. Bit of a shock for me, as I was trying to make 16oz and ran out of room – I’m so used to an 18oz Steeper, and having some breathing room.

I do like the handle on the ingenuiTEA more, it’s easier to grab and more comfortable. The inside mechanics are the same as I can tell.

Overall – I like my Steeper more for the bigger size and wider design. I’ll end up using the ingenuiTEA for backup, travel or office use.

I have it now and ordered another for work. It’s so awesome. I’ve used it 3 times so far and I’m looking forward to trying the auto feature tomorrow and this is so awesome! The perfect cup with no fear of oversteeping and more than one at a time and it boils water too and just wow.

I could wish it had a longer cord though, I have to buy an extension cord to reach the plug here at work. I understand why it doesn’t though, most people will be plugging it in near a plug on a counter rather than at a desk where the plugs are on the floor.

Full Review will be on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 12th. Its a lengthy review but here are the snippits for now:

I have mixed feelings about my Libre Tea Glass n Poly Original.

To begin, there is one strong point about this tea glass that I want to point out. I have no idea why it is not highlighted more on their site, perhaps it is and I have not found it, but it is one of the most breathtaking parts about this item so if I were selling them I would have it very easy to find on the site. The part I am talking about is the lid! (stunning photo will be included in the full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ )

More on sipping: Maybe it is me, maybe I really do have a drinking problem, a tea drinking problem that is, but sometimes if I am not being mindful enough, when I take a sip there is a dribble, usually ending up on my shirt. I feel it has to do with the small sipping radius of the opening, and the threads where the lid screws on. The opening radius is small – my entire nose more or less has to go into the glass to get my lips around the opening. That makes it even more difficult to sip while the tea is still hot. No worries though that does not last too terribly long. Also due to the radius it is difficult to get enough of my mouth in the right place for proper sipping. Granted I may have a big mouth but it is something I have noticed. Due to it being a travel glass however I really don’t want the hassle of having to be all that mindful while sipping on the go. Ease of use could be far better.

Size: Yes it does matter. I got the original size Libre. Its a decent size. Fits my small hand perfectly. If I liked it more, if it retained heat better, I would probably also get a larger size for longer travels as I can sip a tea down in light speed. However I will pass on getting a larger one due to the issues I have with this one.

For me the downfall is I truly do not ENJOY sipping my tea out of the Libre Glass n Poly and tea should be enjoyable to sip.

I address heat retention and other issues as well so don’t miss the full review! :)

The best thing about this tea pot/kettle is that it can make tea for me while I’m lying in bed on a Saturday morning, and I can pour myself a steaming cupful the minute I get up. It really makes getting out of bed to make breakfast much more tolerable.

The tea, so far, comes out perfect every time. No more bitter, over-brewed tea because I walked off and no more setting the timer so my green tea doesn’t come out too astringent. Don’t know how I can go back to waiting for the kettle to boil in the mornings when I all I wanna do is crawl back in bed. Ultimate pampering. The best.

LOVE mine!
Full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 7th but here are my snippits:\

The sifter comes with this scoop like tool that helps you push or drag the matcha along the screen to sift it.

Its easy to clean as well which for me is a HUGE plus!

The canister is quite large. I have sifted a full 60 grams of matcha and had plenty of room to spare.

I find it far more convenient than using what I had in the past which was just your basic kitchen strainer. I always made messes when using that and wasted some good matcha!

Please visit the blog to find out more!

This is a review for the 4 liter one, but I can’t find that one on here and I’d rather not start another page for it so here we go.

This thing is pretty awesome. It heats up water quite fast and then it sings a little song when it is done. You can have it turn off for up to 10 hours and then it heats right back up automatically. I do wish that it had a longer standby setting than 10 hours (14 or something) but I’m glad it has one at all.

I put only filtered water in this and I think that’s what it says in the manual, not that I’ve read the manual in a really long time. You should rinse it out on occasion and that’s a bit of a pain to do, but this is otherwise a pretty fantastic water heater.

And it fits on my desk while hidden by the half wall of my cubicle such that the dreaded standards people can’t see it from the hall and tell me I shouldn’t have it. My coworker’s got a Keurig in plain sight for that.

I’m so excited! I live in the Amazon Fresh delivery area around Seattle and this tea maker was there at $100 off! Just $200! I was so excited that I bought it even though I was just shopping for cheese logs and tomato soup at the time. By 9pm tomorrow, I will have it!

There are many good things about the Breville One Touch. It brews in a clear glass pot so you can watch the tea brew if you are into that kind of thing. It brews your tea at the perfect temperature for the perfect amount of time. That the basket holding the tea will travel up and down the cylinder to brew your tea is pretty awesome. It will keep the tea hot for an hour. So if you want to achieve perfectly brewed tea in a mechanized way it is pretty much perfect. If you are “hands on” about brewing tea, and appreciate the ritual of brewing tea that asks for your attention and participation, then this is not going to be about that.

Okay. Here are my problems. I was given another Davids Tea teaware thing that I didn’t need, so I returned it, and paid 15 more dollars to buy this. You see, I had been lusting after the Travel Press, the big one, for a while. But at the store the guy convinced me not to buy it for some reason. Regrets, regrets.

Pros:
-It’s a mug. I like mugs. I can carry around tea.
-It has a place to store tea. (but so does the other one i wanted)

Cons:
-I’ve burned my mouth SEVERAL times. I have to wait an hour even with the lid off for it to be drinkable. Why would I want to carry around tea that I can’t drink?

-I guess i decided on this one because it was apparently leakproof. IT’S NOT LEAKPROOF. IT LEAKED ALL OVER MY BAG. Gaaaah. fail.

-When I steep rooibos, or teas that have very small leaves, I get a mouthful of tea. What. No. The little holes in the top that separate the steeper from your mouth are waayy too big.

Conclusion: I’m returning this and buying the travel press, and then spending the money I got back on more tea. The End.

These literally are the best little mug you can buy, though not really the most price friendly ones; however occasionally DAVIDsTEA will have a 2 for 1 sale on these mugs and of course at the end of the year for boxing week they are on sale. So far I have purchased three of them, two noble fire red ones and one blue flock of birds, the flock of birds one is my work mug and the birds remind me of the inlays on a PRS guitar (one of my other horrible addictions/hobbies) I have one of the noble ones at home and gave another to my Mom who is just getting into DAVIDsTEA. Now it wouldn’t be fair to say it is the best mug without explaining myself, so here it goes.

- It’s got a lid! Not only a must have for infusing but great if you have a mug at work like me and you want to keep more heat in and other crap out. I know you could use a travel mug but its not as relaxing as sitting at your desk with a favorite mug!

- LARGE fine mesh infuser that slides into the cup perfectly. Up until getting a mug for work I was using my noble travel mug to brew my tea at work and the infuser is small and frequently tea leaves would come out of the larger holes at the top.

- Stylish looks, ok this one is not that important but hey its worth a mention. Up until getting my perfect mugs I had been favoring a mug from Starbucks, their Sumatra Tiger mug to be exact (Tiger is my Chinese Zodiac symbol), which is nice but the excessive thickness of the mug (to retain heat) makes it like holding a brick which if you have big mitten like hands similar to mine the small tight handle on this mug will actually cause a pressure point on your fingers and hurt, not really their fault as it’s mostly due to my mitten like hands!

I have grabbed all of my perfect mugs on sale, so its been win win hands down as on sale they were cheaper then my Starbucks mug and well have more “goodies” that go along with the cup…Now if I could just get another blue flock of birds one!

I have had my Aladdin tea infuser mug for at least four years and I still love it. It is a double walled plastic thermos mug with and internal fine mesh basket in the lid that sits above the water line until you lower it. You fill the basket with your tea, fill the thermos to the fill line with hot water and when you are ready to lower the basket in the water or raise it, you use the lever on the outside of the lid to move the basket. You never have to open the mug to steep your tea. I read that it is microwave safe, but I have never put mine in the microwave. The lever mechanism has metal, so it would I’d microwave only the mug part.

I first bought one for my sister as a gift and a few months later purchased my own. When comparing notes with her, she complained that the infuser basket on hers would always fall down into the water. Mine clicks when put up and stays in place. I called the company to inquire about the difference and they offered to send a replacement! The new one was just like mine with a clicking sound when the basket is raised. I have read other reviews complaining about the falling basket and I’m guessing Aladdin was paying attention to it and fixed the issue in later models.

My experience with this mug has been fantastic. I do try to keep it upright and and not just toss it in a bag and I haven’t had any leaks. The inside of the mug has etched a little over years of use and slightly discolored, but it doesn’t seem to hold onto smell much. Pouring boiling water and baking soda resolves both those issues. The basket mesh is fine enough that I haven’t had any issues of smaller particles finding their way into my tea. My only complaint is that the basket is small for teas that need lots of room for expansion, but it would make the whole mug bulkier so it’s a trade off I can live with. With the double walled design, the mug keeps tea warm for a while. I find it irritating when I want to drink my tea sooner than later, but it’s better than the opposite problem and my tea is still warm if I forget it for a while.

Someone asked me how well it holds heat so I did an experiment. I poured boiling water in the mug and took the temperature every half hour. It was sitting inside my house (kept at 70F) and I opened the part of the lid that you sip through to stick the thermometer in, then closed it again when I got a temp. Here is what I got: @0m/188F, 30m/149F, 60m/130F, 90m/120F, 120m/109F, 150m/98F It won’t keep your tea warm all day, but it will be warm for a couple hours.

Overall I’m quite satisfied with this mug and I would happily buy it again if it eventually gave out.

I originally got this because I was getting tired of using my bodum where the smallest amount I could brew at one time was 2 cups and bits of tea were escaping through the filter into my cup.
The Steepster fixed all of this. I can make as much or as little as I like, and nothing escapes the filter. I love how easy it is to use and clean up. I also like the fact that I’m less likely to break it than a glass teapot, but I can still see the tea brewing.

I’ve used a cajillion steepers, but this is the best one I’ve ever used. It can steep multiple servings at once and combined with a timer, you dump in your tea leaves and water and just walk away. I was afraid I’d have to use Teavana’s wide-mouth glass mug for this to fit, but it fits all the mugs I have with no drips or spills. Cleaning is tricky, but I just fill it up with water and toss the whole mess out the kitchen window or in the toilet.

Tried mine for the first time today. Had some issues. I am not rating until I give it another go. Was not user error – I read the instructions – watched the video ….
Not thrilled but giving it more time and more usage.
Will do full review when I am not exhausted – plus need to go get the tea stains out of my pants from the earlier disaster.
MEH.